Sign in hangs for Apple ID login after El Capitan install

After installing El Capitan on my iMac, the sign in hangs for Apple ID sign in on iCloud, App Store, and iTunes. Everything basically freezes at the sign in and the only option is to force quit. I cannot use iCloud, App Store and iTunes at this point. I attempted restarting the iMac and signing in again, but the same issue arrises.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 2, 2015 11:45 PM

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24 replies

Oct 4, 2015 11:18 AM in response to mikeonike

I Had the same issues, turned out that in upgrading to el capitan, my imac lost the serial number that was stored on the logic board. You can check whether your machine has lost the serial no or not by going to the "about this mac" under the apple logo. If the serial number is listed as unavailable, then that likely is your problem.


The issue can be fixed on your own- by going to rogersm.net- how to set your mac os serial number to use icloud. I followed the instructions and after 2 hours got my imac back to working order.


However as the site says, no guarantees. If you still have apple care, you may feel more comfortable having a apple service person do the job.


Just to let everyone know what could be the issue , and a solution that worked for me.

Oct 3, 2015 9:40 PM in response to towndown

Same problem. iBook and iPhone(s) work fine, but on iMac, App Store, iTunes, iCloud just freeze up at sign in, so have to Force quit the application. Very frustrating! Rest keychain, logged in and out of iCloud multiple times with reboot, all to no avail. So even if they fix it with an updated version, we won't be able to download it without App store - unless it is posted to the on the Apple Web site.

Dec 22, 2015 10:01 AM in response to towndown

Thanks! This solved the Apple ID sign in problem on my Mid-2011 11" MacBook Air that started with El Capitan 10.11.1. Apple replaced the motherboard because of a bad USB port under warranty and I never had an Apple ID problem until 10.11.1 and I noticed that the serial number was missing and the Mac was not listed in my product list.


I restored the serial number using file 063-7137-A.dmg restored to a USB stick. No problems.


Bill

Dec 22, 2015 2:53 PM in response to Jonathan Fletcher

were you able to solve your issues? I'm facing the same thing.


I have a mid-2007 20" iMac that sat unplugged and unloved for a few months while I borrowed its RAM for another project. Recently I migrated all my day-to-day stuff to Linux, but want to use this old iMac as an Xcode build machine. I attempted the "Sign Out and Sign-back-in" method to no avail; I can pick and choose which iCloud features I want to enable after the initial sign-in, but then the iCloud Keychain setup stalls at "Enter your Apple ID password to set up iCloud Keychain."

Feb 4, 2016 6:15 AM in response to towndown

I finally solved this after living with no apple id since upgrading to El Capitan in October. It was easy and it solved my problem, wish I'd thought of it sooner.


reboot, cmd+r, reinstall OS X


once it was done, I still had all my user data and apps, and apple id and itunes worked for the first time in months. Something about that initial El Capitan install back in October borked a file somewhere. Others have had luck with more esoteric solutions, but this easy fix did it for me. Good luck.

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Sign in hangs for Apple ID login after El Capitan install

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